CAPTIVITY

Captivity is a low-octane thriller/exploitation/horror movie. Our heroine, played by Elisha Cuthbert is kidnapped, held captive and subjected to a variety of styles of torture.

The film is well acted and firmly plotted. It also has pretentions (according to the DVD commentary) of rising above its genre with themes of freedom vs captivity (in a broad sense), our media perception versus reality, love arising as a bond in a crisis, and other philosophical issues. These ideas are, in fact, in the script and the story, but they are so overwhelmed by the conventional genre plot points that in fact they are barely noticable. They contribute to the integrity of the plotting and scripting, but they are not important enough to qualify as original or significant.

The movie is filmed with style, directed by Roland Joffé (a director with Oscar nominations and awards both in Cannes & the Razzies), though it is quite dark and murky (as I guess it should be). But the climactic action sequences, strangely, are shot to be so brief and sudden that I had to watch those moments in slow motion two and three times to figure out what happened. (That is a luxury not available to theatergoers!) In a movie house, key parts of the film must have been essentially incomprehensible.

For a film about sadism and bondage and sexually motivated captivity, with a beautiful actress, there is a disappointing lack of nudity -- only one fuzzy long shot that could be a body double or even an animated drawing. There is a certain dishonesty and lack of follow-through on not realizing the point of the genre.

The acting by Elisha Cuthbert and Daniel Gillies is excellent. Daniel has a nice way of holding conflicting ideas, looking innocent, attractive, and evil at the same time; and his portrayal is convincing. (His character's name is Gary Dexter. There's no telling whether there is a deliberate or just an accidental connection to the TV show Dexter and the novels about that character.) Elisha is beautiful, and an interesting enough actress to hold the screen compellingly through the whole movie, even though in much of the film she is alone on screen. It is actually virtuoso acting. She is able to convey ideas with subtle movements of her eyes, mouth and face. It is a shame: too many of her films have the same premise. (Elisha, of course, played the hapless, often kidnapped daughter in 24.) She is capable of taking demanding roles in far better films.

Elisha may have as many as four or five pictures coming out in the next year. I hope some are good enough to realize her potential!

THE DOLLHOUSE COMES TO YOUNG FRIENDS OF FILM

Young Friends of Film is a membership program at the Film Society, designed for film enthusiasts ages 21–40. Screening classic films from past New York Film Festivals and New Directors/New Films series, paired with special guest speakers and after-screening parties, Young Friends of Film events allow younger generations of moviegoers firsthand access to the remarkable films they may not have had the chance to see on the big screen.(Recent events have included screenings of Louis Malle’s Murmur of the Heart, Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway and preview screenings of Run, Fatboy, Run and Waitress, with recent appearances by Andre Gregory, Simon Pegg, Thandie Newton, David Schwimmer, Chazz Palminteri and Keri Russell.) The Film Society of Lincoln Center will welcome actors Heather Matarazzo, Brendan Sexton III and Daria Kalinina to a Young Friends of Film screening of Todd Solondz’s Welcome to the Dollhouse at the Walter Reade Theater, Thursday, Dec. 6, 7:30 p.m.

"Solondz’s hilarious breakthrough film is an unflinching look at junior high hell. Dawn “Wienerdog” Wiener (Matarazzo) is incredibly awkward, the laughing stock of her class, a clear family second to her younger sister (Kalinina) and the object of threats from a local thug (Sexton). Her brother Mark sympathizes, but he is otherwise consumed with getting into a top-tier college and playing in his band. When the band takes on a hunky new lead singer (Ugly Betty co-star Eric Mabius), Dawn immediately develops an obsessive crush."

Dollhouse opened New Directors/New Films in 1996, after earning the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The actors will be onstage for a Q&A session with the Film Society’s Will McCord after the screening, followed by a reception with an open bar and hors d’oeuvres.

Tickets to this Young Friends of Film event are $25 and include the screening and the reception afterward. They are available at both the Walter Reade Theater box office and online at www.filmlinc.com. Young Friends of Film members receive one complimentary ticket.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

DRIVERS' LICENSES

Elliot Spitzer, Governor of NY, has given up his drive to issue drivers' licenses to "undocumented immigrants", due to popular opposition, even though he still believes it is good policy.That puts "Proof Of Birth" a film we just reviewed (see the previous post) right in the spotlight!

Monday, November 12, 2007

PROOF OF BIRTH AT QIFF

Snezhana Chernova and Hugo Calera at QIFF

Proof Of Birth directed by José Luis Orbegozo is a short film (screened at the Queens International Film Festival QIFF)about the struggle for a Mexican man (here illegally) to find a way to send money (legally) back to his wife; it's also about how he learns to use the system and how his self-confidence develops. The film is well made, and features fine acting by Hugo Calero in the main role, and Snezhana Chernova in a bravura supporting role.

QPORIT is designed for features; in some cases -- theatrical reviews, and interviews with Broadway stars and directors for example -- stories will overlap.

However, BOBOOBLOG will include lots more detail on theater than we can include here. In particular, we are hoping that directors, producers, and actors from (ALL! the zillions of) OOB shows (as well as OB and Broadway shows too, of course) will provide us with flyers for ALL! their shows in advance, plus full cast and creative credits when the show goes up. We want BOBOOBLOG to be a theater resource of unmatched power, information and usefulness.

An example of the utility of BOBOOBLOG is that we had a hard time finding a real list of which theaters were dark and which were open during the current stagehands' strike. We tracked it down and posted that list on BOBOOBLOG, along with information about how to obtain refunds. Because of the volume of information, it would have taken hours to post the information here according to our formatting standards, but we were able to put it up in minutes on BOBOOBLOG once we found it:http://bobooblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/theater-closings-refunds-due-to-strike.html

FRACTURE

I take "by-the-numbers" to refer to those painting blueprints, where the lines of the picture are drawn, and each area has a number that tells you the color of the oil paint to use. In other words, the outline is fixed, and there is limited opportunity to be creative on the details, the palette being prescribed beforehand.

Well, Fracture is like that. It follows the prescription outline for the legal-thriller genre, and uses a little bit of creativity in the way it colors in the details. It's above average because it uses a lot of colors; the numbers it uses go pretty high.

Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling are both very good as the guy who confesses to the killing at the start of the story, and the prosecutor who must take what looks like a simple case to court.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

SOME FILM FESTIVAL INFORMATION

(Bulletfilms seems to have been created to host films, but they seem to be planning to charge to host them. It is not clear to me why one would host there, and not on a free site like Video Google or YouTube. It is not clear if Bulletfilms has any traffic; they say nothing about sharing revenue; and there were programming errors in the promotional e-mail they sent.)

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

MR BROOKS

As Mr. Brooks, Kevin Costner creates a detailed, sophisticated, multilayered characterization of a serial killer. William Hurt is truly brilliant as the embodiment of the voice in Costner's head, guiding him through the killings.

In a testament to the richness of Hurt's acting, the co-writers, Bruce A. Evans & Raynold Gideon, comment on the DVD that, with every line, Hurt created more of a fully realized world than they even knew was in the words they wrote.

The film would be famously great were it not for one central problem. There is a major plot element which involves an "apprentice," played by Dane Cook, a would-be killer who blackmails Costner into taking him on as an intern in serial killing. (It feels silly even to type that here.) It is hard to allocate blame for this nonsense amongst the various elements of the film: the conception of this plot idea, the casting, the direction, the writing, or the acting; but the whole sequence sinks the film into patent absurdity.

Often when one aspect of a movie fails completely, listening to the DVD commentary gives the clue to why it failed: the commentary never addresses the problem issue, suggesting the writer and director never realized there was something that needed to be done.

Here, according to the DVD commentary, the character, played by Cook was originally going to be played by Zach Braff. This might be a clue, namely that they never made the adjustments to the style of the new actor. It might also be a clue to a different cause of the problem, namely that the character and his story were misconceived from the beginning. Surprisingly, the writer and director seem well pleased by both the actor and this whole portion of the film.The writers also comment on the DVD that they consider Mr. Brooks -- a serial killer -- to be a moral person because he has an addiction: he loves his family, and he truly wants to stop killing, even though he has an addiction to murder. (Unlike other serial killer "heroes, " by the way, he does not even make a pretense of killing only people that -- for some imagined reason -- "deserve" to be killed.) I don't agree. History teaches us that good family men can be vicious killers. He is an evil, dangerous man. He is a sick, evil, dangerous man. (He can not even claim an insanity defense. He knows that what he is doing is wrong.) The fact that this is a story about an amoral or immoral man does not prevent the story from being interesting or well made. There can be great literature about evil people, even if they "get away with it." But the character is still evil and immoral. It's not necessary to defend the character.

The DVD commentary also suggests that the creative team is considering a sequel. Given the terrific acting by the main characters, they could get it all right the second time.

LUCY AT EST

Vivian is an anthropologist at the top of her field. She craves solitude -- motherhood was never an option. But when forced to care for her estranged teenage daughter, Lucy, her life is turned upside down. Lucy is autistic ... and might be the next step in Vivian's evolution.

THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION

Written by the great Aaron Sorkin, The Farnsworth Invention, about the invention of television, and the struggle to obtain the patent -- and the credit -- for the invention, is currently in previews and opens on November 15 -- at the Music Box Theatre, 239 West 45th Street, and is certainly the show that I am currently most interested in.

The informative, official website for The Farnsworth Invention contains credits for the complete cast (headed by Hank Azaria as Robert Sarnoff), the author, Aaron Sorkin, the director, Des McAnuff and the principal creative team. It also contains a history of the invention of television.

SUBMISSIONS FOR NEW DIRECTORS / NEW FILMS

The specs for submissions of films to The Lincoln Center Film Society / Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) New Directors / New Films (ND/NF) has just been announced. Joining the selection committee is Rajendra Roy, the new chief film curator at The Museum of Modern Art.

"• Entries must be New York premieres and have been completed in the current or preceding year. They cannot have been shown in any festivals or public screening in New York. (The Committee reserves the right to waive this rule in the case of small non-commercial, non-publicized showings.)• The Festival exhibition formats are 35mm and 16mm printswith composite optical sound and digital video.• Short and feature films of all lengths are considered - there are no separate categories.• Films in a language other than English must be subtitled in English.• Films submitted in any previous year may not be resubmitted."Work can be submitted (for consideration by the screening committee) on 16mm or 35mm film, HDCam, Digibeta, VHS, or DVD. VHS and DVD entries are not returned. All applicants will be notified of the Committee's decision by email by February 28."

New Directors/New Films is always one of the most interesting events in New York for film lovers. Here's a quick introduction to the program:

"One of the leading international showcases for emerging filmmakers, New Directors/New Films has premiered hundreds of new works, many of which have gone on to enjoy both critical success and wider theatrical release."

"Several artists featured in past New Directors/New Films have become major figures in world cinema, including Chantal Akerman, Pedro Almodóvar, Guillermo Del Toro, Atom Egoyan, Spike Lee, Richard Linklater, Sally Potter, John Sayles, Steven Spielberg, Todd Solondz, Wim Wenders and Wong Kar Wai. Recent films screened at the festival include Day Night Day Night, The Great World of Sound, Once and Padre Nuestro in 2007; Old Joy and Academy Award® nominees My Country, My Country and Half Nelson in 2006; and Academy Award® nominees Murderball, Darwin's Nightmare and Junebug in 2005."

"Rajendra Roy joins his MoMA colleagues Jytte Jensen and Laurence Kardish and the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Marian Masone, Joanna Ney and program director Richard Peña, on this year’s selection committee. "

Roy has an interesting background. "He joined the Department of Film at MoMA as the Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film in July 2007, having started his work in independent film programming in 1992 as an undergrad at UCSD. "For five years he contributed to a major period of growth at The Hamptons International Film Festival, as Director of Programming from 2002-05 and Artistic Director in 2006 and 2007. "From 2004-07 he was the sole American on the Competition Selection Committee for the Berlin International Film Festival. At the Guggenheim Museum, from 2000-02, he served as Film and Media Arts Program Manager in New York and Bilbao. From 1996 to 2000 he was Executive Director of the Mix Festival in New York, one of the most respected experimental film events in the world. "He has served on many boards and juries, including the Student Academy Awards, Gotham Awards and NYSCA and has organized numerous touring film programs. He has contributed to such publications as Turbulences Video, indieWIRE, Moving Pictures and Empire magazine."

The Wooster Group is a renowned experimental ensemble, dating back to Sakonnet Point at the Performing Garage in 1975. "With their trademark use of video, sound and precise physical language, The Wooster Group takes on Shakespeare in a wildly inventive, artistic event."

3. IN PERSON: Visit The Public Theater Box Office, 425 Lafayette Street(Sun-Mon 1-6pm, Tues-Sat 1-7:30pm)Rush TixThere will be a limited number of $20 Rush Tix available at the box office for every downtown theater performance on sale to the general public one hour prior to curtain. There is a 2 ticket limit per person. Cash only.

Full Price Waiting List TicketsOn the day of a sold out performance, we will take a waiting list for full price tickets in person at the box office. The waiting list will be called no earlier than 1/2 hour before curtain. If you are called and not in the lobby, your name will be removed from the list. While tickets occasionally become available in this manner, we are unable to make predictions or guarantees.

Student Tickets$25 tickets are available for advance purchase at the box office for every downtown theater performance on sale to the general public. Must have a valid student ID at the time of purchase. Limit 1 ticket per person